


Star-Crossed

by writers_haven



Series: Rintori Week Summer 2014 [5]
Category: Free!
Genre: Day 5: Arabian AU, M/M, Rintori Week Summer 2014, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, and i love her, fluff fluff fluff, gou is the cutest
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-10
Updated: 2016-04-10
Packaged: 2018-05-31 18:23:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,235
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6481780
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/writers_haven/pseuds/writers_haven
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The point was, Gou was pretty observant. Rin knew it, too, so why he thought he could get away with his silver-haired, blue-eyed, petite but still pretty muscular little secret was beyond her.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Star-Crossed

Gou wasn’t an idiot. Sure, she was young, and yes, maybe _sometimes_ she made mountains out of molehills, but –and this was a big _but_ – she wasn’t blind. She knew things, _saw_ things that others didn’t think she did.

Take her brother, Rin, for instance. She knew he wasn’t straight, she’d seen the way he couldn’t take his eyes off of Haru’s abs the first time he came to visit the palace (though Gou herself was far more partial to Haru’s triceps). And it wasn’t like Rin was just jealous, because hot damn, her brother’s muscles were _very_ impressive.

It wasn’t just Haru, either. That one blue-haired guard outside the palace walls, their dancer friend Nagisa, Haru’s one merchant friend with the drool-worthy back. Even their old childhood friend Sousuke, who’d left to see the world with his family at fourteen and came back five years later looking _hotter than the sun_. Seriously, his abs and his back and his shoulders, holy God, his _shoulders_ –

Ahem.

The point was, Gou was pretty observant. Rin knew it, too, so why he thought he could get away with his silver-haired, blue-eyed, petite but still pretty muscular little secret was beyond her.

Oh yes, her brother had a _secret boyfriend_.

That wasn’t even the best part. Gou knew that her mother had been trying to get Rin to fall for the Prince of Samezuka since she found out Rin wasn’t terribly interested in princesses, what with always sending Rin to Samezuka to negotiate things like alliances and trade agreements and all sorts of other equally dull subjects. The last Gou had heard, Rin had liked him enough to get engaged – _engaged_!– to this mysterious prince. The prince and his family were due to visit in a few days.

And now, just this morning alone Gou had spotted Rin all around the palace with another in his arms! The silver-haired man couldn’t be any older than Gou was herself, and was dressed so plainly he was definitely not Rin’s fiancé.

There was only one explanation.

Rin was having a scandalous affair with one of the _servant_ _boys_.

It was like something straight out of a romance novel! The star-crossed lovers, kept apart by the cruel class system and harsh societal expectations! Why, Gou was convinced that Rin had been forced into the engagement– how could he willingly get engaged to someone else when his soulmate was already in his arms, always by his side in the palace, so close and yet so far? She could hear it now, the tender words they would whisper to each other under the cover of darkness:

“My love,” Rin would say, brushing silver hair out of big, blue eyes gently, his eyes shining with emotion. “I have been betrothed to the Prince of Samezuka.”

“Oh, Rin,” the servant would despair, clasping Rin’s hand to his chest as he stared up into Rin’s eyes. “I couldn’t bear it if– if I had to be parted from you,” he would whisper, tears rolling down his cheeks.

“That won’t happen,” Rin would promise, his face determined and strong and oh-so-handsome. “I won’t allow it!”

“What can a pair of lovestruck fools like us do to disobey the Sultana?” his lover would wail hopelessly. “We would be captured and beheaded for treason!”

“I would rather die tonight than live to see a thousand moons without you by my side,” Rin would say boldly, squeezing his lover’s hand tightly.

“Oh, my darling, please,” the blue-eyed man would whimper tearfully. “Don’t say things like that! To know that you had died for my sake… no, no, it would surely break my heart!”

“Then… Then we’ll run away together! We’ll take the camels from the stables, some supplies from the kitchens – we could be halfway across the desert by sunrise, where they’ll never be able to catch us!” Rin would be impassioned, brave, but his beloved would still seem uncertain.

“What of your family?” he would ask softly. “Your mother, and your beautiful, observant, loving little sister? You would leave them– for me?”

“My love,” Rin’s eyes would shine with emotion, but his voice would be steady as he said, “I would give you the stars and the moon, and the sun that hangs high over the desert sands, if it would bring you the tiniest happiness.”

“Oh, Rin,” his lover would breathe happily, and they would come together in a heated, messy kiss, fuelled by passion and love and the thought of their happily ever after.

Oh, it was too much for Gou to bear! Her poor, tortured brother– gone by morning! No, this was unfair. Gou would not allow such a bittersweet ending to befall her brother! Why, she would go to her mother _right this instant_ –

“Gou!” Rin’s voice called suddenly, breaking through Gou’s thoughts.

“Y-Yes?” Gou answered hastily, blushing. Had he heard her thoughts? Seen her intentions?

Rin just smiled, his silver-haired lover’s fingers laced with his, and said, “C’mere, there’s someone I want you to meet.”

Oh! Gou nodded and started towards them, her mind (and pulse) racing a mile a minute. Was Rin going to let her in on the secret? Was he going to tell her and her alone where they were planning to run away to? Was she going to be an aunt?!

Well, okay, maybe not the last one.

Rin looked like he was bursting with happiness as he said, “Princess Gou, meet my fiancé, Prince Aiichirou of Samezuka!”

…

What.

Some of Gou’s shock must have shown on her face, because Rin and Prince Aiichirou looked concerned.

“Gou, you okay?” Rin asked, brow furrowed with worry. “Gou?”

Gou’s manners, thankfully, kicked in. “I-It’s nice to meet you, Prince Aiichirou,” she managed, avoiding his eyes in embarrassment.

“Nice to meet you, too, Princess Gou,” Prince Aiichirou replied, sounding a little bewildered but very polite. “Are you well?”

“Y-You aren’t dressed like a prince,” she burst out, flushing red, “and I thought you weren’t coming for a few more days?”

Prince Aiichirou smiled, soft and bashful and okay, wow, yes, she could see why Rin liked the guy. “Ah, yes, well,” he began, embarrassed, “I simply couldn’t wait to see Rin again, so I went ahead of the royal procession. My parents didn’t want me to be a target for bandits, so I traded clothes with one of my father’s attendants.”

Well. Gou felt a little silly now, having created a whole fantasy in her head. Though, to her defense, how was she to know that the man dressed in servant clothes was not, in fact, a servant?

“This guy, he’s so cute,” Rin said affectionately, smiling at Prince Aiichirou like he’d hung the moon and the stars. “Couldn’t wait _three days_ to spend the rest of our lives together.”

“If it were up to you, Rin, we’d have eloped two months ago,” Prince Aiichirou laughed, but he looked at Rin like he was falling in love with him all over again, and just the sight of it made Gou smile.

They weren’t exactly the star-crossed heroes of a romance novel, but they were fools in love all the same, and if Rin was happy, then Gou was happy.

(They got married three months later, after much fuss about clothes and entertainment and the guest list. They both looked stunned, and stunning, and so, so happy.

And, yes, they lived happily ever after.)

**Author's Note:**

> Day 5: Arabian AU
> 
> Oh, Gou. My sweet daughter, I love you so much. Have a nice sweet fic to finish off the week, because I didn't finish the other two days, ahaha. I really enjoyed writing her little fantasy part, that was loads of fun. 
> 
> ( [writing blog](http://haven-writes.tumblr.com) | [original post](http://writers-haven.tumblr.com/post/93956639328/rintori-week-day-five) )


End file.
